'lhe HISTORY o.f the PuRI'rANs. VoL. H. .Common· and yield obedience to the commonwealth, were proteCted in their fcvew~lth. ral perfuafions. This occafioned a great commotion among the clergy ~ who complained ~f the lofs of ~heir covena~t, and church difcipline; and exclatmed agatnlt the toleratiOn, as openmg a door to all kinds of error and herefy : But the englijh fupported their friends againfl: all op– pofition. E~gli!Q camThe laird of Drum being threatened with excommunication for fpeakmiffion~rs ing againft the kirk, and for refufing to fwear that its difcipline was of dijettle l1berty . 1 • fl d h lijh c .n· d 1 · h of confcimce vme auttJortt)',. e to t _e eng 1 10r proteuton, an t 1en w;n t e affembly in that king- word, that the1r opprefi10n was equal to that of the late btfhops, but that .dam. the commonwealth of Encrland would not permit them to enilave the conWh ' l 0 a· p. fciences of men any longer. The preibytery would have proceeded to :SOO, sos, ·• . . h h' b M k b d'{h d h' r. d h . 515 . extremtt1es Wit 1m, ut on ran 1 e IS 1wor over t e1r heads, .and threatened to treat them as enemies to the ftate, upon which they de- , ·fifted for the prefent. Soon after this, commi.ffioners chiefly of the in– dependent perfuafion, were fent into Scotland,to vifit the univerfities, and to fettle liberty of confcience in that kingdom, again!l: the coercive claim of the kirk, by whofe influence a declaration was prefented to the affembly .at Edinburgh, July 26. in favour of the congregational difcipline, and for .liberty qf conji.ience; but the ftubborn affembly men, infl:ead of yielding to the declaration, publiG1ed a paper called a 'T'!flimony agai'!ft the preJent encroachments of the civil power upon the ecc!ljiiftica! jurijdiClion, occafioned by a proclamation of the englijh commiffioners appointing a committee for viliting their univerfities, which they take to be a fpecial ~be kirk in- flower of the kirk prerogative. The fynod of Fife alfo prote!l:ed .[u!ted. againfl: the public refolutions of the civil power, but the fword of the Whal. P· englijh kept them in awe; for when the fynod of Perth cited before them su, 512 ' feveral perfons for flighting the admonitions of the kirk, Mr. Whit!ock fays, that upon the day of appearance, their wives to the number of about one hundred and twenty, with clubs in their hands, came and be– fieged ·the church where the fynod fat; that they abufed one of the mi– nifl:ers who was fent out to treat with them, and threatened to excommu– nicate them; and that they beat the clerk and difperfed tbe aflembly; up– on which thirteen of the minifl:ers met at a village about four miles diftant, and having agreed that no more fynods lhould be held in that place, they pronounced the village accurfed. \Vh~n the ge?eral affembly met .again at Edinburgh next fummer, and were JUft entermg upon bufinefs, lieute– nant-colonel Cotterel went into the church, and il:anding up upon one of the benche~, told them that no ecclefiaftical judicatories were to fit there, but by authority of the parliament of England; .and without giv– ing them leave to reply, he commanded them to ret1re, and conduCt– ed them out of the wefl: gate of the city with a troop of horfe and a corn-
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